In an otherwise insightful new article by Jean Tillman of Unisys (the company that brought you the now-expired GIF patent, for those keeping notes), it’s argued that those building web-based applications may wish to take advantage of browser-specific technology:

Designers of Web-based applications, however, may have more control over the target environment, depending on the situation. They can specify a required browser, much like they specify the required hardware or operating system environment. This gives them more freedom of design and more choices for implementing browser-specific capabilities.

Even in a closed environment like a company with a well-employed IT department or an educational facility, relying on a particular browser/operating system setup demonstrates a lack of foresight that’s best left behind in the dot-com era. Even if absolutely everyone runs that particular combo today, what about next year? Three years from now? Ten years?

If we learned anything from the Year 2000 bug, it’s this: software lives long past its expiration date. Assuming that an application will be continually upgraded to run on current technology is naïve at best. Locking an organization in to a certain browser is dangerous; don’t do it.